Just some pics of my cute kids :)

To take a break from my ramblings, we’ll leave you with some cute pics of my cuties :)

 

   

"Be What's Needed"

As mentioned in the previous post, I'm really excited to be singing in the General Relief Society Meeting this weekend. The last few weeks of rehearsals have been simply amazing. As I before mentioned, we have the most amazing director, Emily Wadley. Darrell is probably sick of me talking about how inspiring she is. But she definitely is somebody I want to become like someday. It's apparent she has an immense love for the gospel, everyone around her, and Church History. Something she spoke of our first rehearsal, and has reiterated every week, is the importance to "Be What's Needed." We all have so many different talents, and the Lord uses those talents to help unify His people (Or in our case, the choir). However, for the unity to happen, we have to be willing to be humble, obedient, and teachable to "be what's needed." Whether we see it at the beginning or not, the Lord knows what we need, and will make things happen the way they are supposed to.

Last night as were were discussing the words to "The Morning Breaks" I was taken back into memory the times I've felt an immense sense of peace or joy that has come from the knowledge that the gospel it true. My mind flashed back to to sitting in the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York at the peaceful beauty that surrounded me as the sun peeked through the trees. I went back to the humble testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith that swelled in my heart as I touched the banister walking up the stairs in the Carthage Jail. To sitting in front of the Nauvoo Temple watching the sun set over the Mississippi River with the silhouette of the statues of Hyrum and Joseph. To receiving my endowments in the Manti, LDS Temple. To the days my children were born. To the times when my children are just sweet and loving.

As my mind reflected on these many memories, I knew I needed to remember and learn from these experiences, just as I learn from the history of faithful Latter-Day Saint Women both in the early days of the church and now. It was also a spiritual battery recharge I've been needing for a while.

So, although I'm going to miss singing with this amazing choir and learning weekly from Sister Wadley, I'm thankful the Lord needed me there. I originally thought it was merely an answer to my longing to sing in a choir again, but clearly I needed more than that, and I hope to daily keep that spirit of remembrance in my heart.

The need to journal more

This cute little lady, Emily, is our choir director for the choir singing at the General Relief Society Conference this year. She's such an amazing woman, and I feel like I know her so well, even though I've only spent a few hours the last month being directed by her. Tonight she talked about how we need to write down all the experiences that we're having to help us learn and grow in life. I found this quote on her blog tonight, and I would like to share it with you.

"Oh there's a lot to say. A lot to remember. A lot to forget. A lot to keep to yourself. A lot to hang on to and a lot to let go of. Sweet moments. Ugly thoughts. Revelation. Pure emotion. Swings, diapers, salad, cereal. Indian, PB, popcorn, apples, did I say cereal? Flying, typing, talking, earning. Headphones, car stereo, ipod. Babies, kids, heartache, victories. Soccer games, concerts, car rides, door slams, dirty floor, laughter. Harmony, kindergarten, colors. Pancakes, lullabyes. Singing, yelling, crying, whispering, kissing, holding, grasping, reaching, wanting, trying, hoping, accepting. Dancing, cleaning, walking, going. Corners, hills. Forgiving. Loving. Sleeping. Yep, that's some of the living. Remember? Remember how I've been living all this time?"

I hope to be able to do better and recording all the things happening in my life, because these times will never be here again. I know that the Lord is watching over me always, but I want to reflect on everything, all the time. Here's to a new day and a better job remembering to journal for me!

My now 4 year old :)

 

4 years ago today, we finally got to meet this cute little man in person :)

 

Even though he came into our family sooner than we ever originally planned, I wouldn’t trade him for ANYTHING!

Steven also started joy-school this week with some of the neighborhood kids.  He has definitely been loving it.  He has always had a passion for learning, and he makes every day exciting.  He asks hundreds of questions, and always wants to know about everything!
Here are some fun thing about our wonderful 4-year old!

Favorite Movies: Cars and Toy Story (All of them, including Mater’s Tall Tales)

Favorite Color:  Blue

Favorite Food: Ramen Noodles and Chicken Nuggets

Favorite Scripture Story: Samuel The Lamenite

Favorite Sport: Running

He loves to sleep on the top bunk

He absolutely loves going to primary every week, even if lately it’s just because he has wanted them to sing to him for his birthday :)

He really does love playing with his sister, and is starting to get along with her, and share with her a lot

Due to other family parties, and a BYU Game today, we did Steven’s birthday celebrations yesterday.   A few months back, he got to go to a friend’s birthday party, and since then playing with his friends for his birthday was definitely something he wanted a lot!  We did a Toy Story friend birthday party with a few of his friends from the neighborhood.  Thanks to my sis-in-law, Jenny, I had some great inspiration.  We started the party by reading the kids a story about the Toy Story toys escaping from Sunnyside Day Care.  Then, they had to get through an obstacle course which led them to the kitchen.  They had to come down the stair, go through the balloon pit at the bottom, climb over chairs, under the piano bench, do a ring toss, and go through a box tunnel.  I wanted to take more pictures, but I was supervising 8 adorable 3-4 year olds :)

 

In the kitchen, we did Mr. Potato Head Crafts.  When Steven got up to make his, he said, “I want to make a Picasso Potato.”  :)  I have an artist, what can I say?

 

Then, we had presents and cupcakes and ice cream.  Steven was not expecting presents, so this was an exciting awesome thing for Steven.  His friends gave him such awesome presents, and he loves them! Overall, I think the boys had fun. :) Thanks Debra and Sheri for helping me man the boys.

 

And last night we had my sister, my parents, and Darrell’s parents come over for dinner, and cake and ice cream.  Steven wanted a Woody and Buzz cake this year.  I let him find cakes with me online, and he chose one that I tried my best to make.  It was fun to play with fondant again, and even though the cake was not perfect, he absolutely loved it! He also loved family being here to play with him.  It was definitely one of his best days! 

     

Happy Birthday Darrell!

September at our house is birthday month, since 3/4 of the family birthdays fall in this month.  Last week we celebrated Darrell’s last birthday in the twenties. :)

Friday, the 2nd, was his birthday.  We had presents that evening, where he got some clothes and a game.  Our friends, the Anderson’s came over to play games and to enjoy homemade ice cream with us for the celebration.  On Saturday, Darrell and I went to lunch while the kids played at Grandma and Grandpa Cropper’s, after which we watched the BYU game.  The Cougs kept up their birthday streak for Darrell and pulled out the win. :) Go Cougs!! We sure love Darrell, and I hope that we made it a special fun weekend for him!!

And Thanks to Darrell’s parents and Zann and Amber for letting us watch the game at your places.

 

Ready to Run!

I sure love me some 5K races.  Especially when they are with good friends!  I was going to run a relay race today, but things just didn’t work out with that the way I originally hoped they would, so I started to look for a 5K race I could do. I found one, so my friends, Genesis, Nicole, and Amber were gracious enough to come run the Utah Runner Girls 5K in Alpine with me (and of course every single one of them beat me :)).   I haven’t been feeling the best this week on my nightly runs, so I was hoping I could still manage a good race.   Physically it was an awesome course, but for some reason I just didn’t have it in me mentally to do as well as I hoped.  It totally helped, however, that the time I was just about to start walking, Amber yelled at me from behind - “RUN JANELL!!”  It totally helped me finish the last mile of that race.  But that’s okay, gotta get some bad races out of my system, right?   I still finished in 31:41, and I hope I can get over this mental block in the next week or two to hopefully start training for a 10K in October. :)  Here are some pictures to document this fun event, because really, it was a lot of fun.

 

 

Here’s a picture of the four of us before the race – Gen, Me, Amber and Nicole.  Gen is an animal , who is also 25-weeks pregnant with a baby girl, whom she is going to name after me. Okay, she’s really not going to name her after me, but I wanted to make sure y’all were reading.  :) But I am so excited to meet her baby girl in December!

Gen and I after the race

 

Amber and I after the race.  So glad I could start and finish with her!!

 

5 years!

We were so young and cute back then :)

On the 19th and 20th we headed out for a fun little vacation to celebrate our 5 year anniversary.  My sister and mom were great to watch the kids (And paint my sister’s apartment).  We headed up to West Valley Friday night to see Joseph up at the Hale Center Theatre, which was fabulous.  We also stayed at the Springhill Suites by the airport for a kid free night (yay for sleeping in!!).  On Saturday, as before mentioned, we slept in, then went to a session at the Jordan River Temple and had lunch at the Olive Garden.   It was a simple, fun weekend, and it was great for us to get away!! I sure love this tall handsome prince charming, and I’m so glad he still loves me, and that we can work together on future goals for the next 5 years, and then to infinity and beyond!

 

 

My Weekend Ramblings and Guest Poster - Go Me! :)

One of the things at the top of my wish-list for life right now is for people to build houses on the empty lots next to us, and for someone to move into the house across the street that has been vacant since before we moved in. I have some amazing friends in my neighborhood, but I've been longing to have some great people right here to help me feel more settled I guess.

Well, Saturday we noticed that a family was finally moving into the vacant house across the street! SOOO excited! :) When I noticed them moving in, I asked Darrell if he was ready to head across the street. :) We roped his brother, Brad, into going to help them, and my sister, myself and the kids went over to introduce ourselves. Turns out the new neighbors have 4 lovely daughters (6 year-old twins, a 3 year old, and a seven-month old). Steven had a BALL playing with the girls while the boys helped move stuff in.

Come to find out, our new neighbors were getting baptized that evening! The missionaries invited us to come to the baptism, and I'm so glad we did. It was an amazingly spiritual experience, and it was so neat to see the gospel in such a new, fresh light in Phil and Amie's lives. They were so excited, and I haven't felt the spirit that strong in a really long time. I'm grateful that they let us share that special evening with them.

Sunday in church they received the Holy Ghost, and it was evident the spirit was again strong in the meeting. I think it touched many people in the audience.

At a time where we live in the day-to-day things of trying to do our best and trying to live the gospel to the fullest, it was just refreshing and wonderful for me to see this amazing family just starting out on a journey I've known for so long. The reminder of wanting to feel that spirit all the time was delightful, and I'm going to cherish this weekend for a while.

On an unrelated note - I was a guest blogger today for a friend - Elise. It does include a giveaway so go check er' out if you want!!

Thanksgiving Point Children’s Gardens

This past week my friends and I took our kids to the children’s gardens at Thanksgiving Point.  It’s fun for all of us to have kids the same age, and we thought this outing would be a lot of fun.  They have a splash pad area as you first enter the gardens, so the kids had fun playing and getting wet. :)

 

Then we headed through the gardens for fish feeding, block playing, and down the hill rolling fun

         

 

My Almost 4-Year Old

I only say that, because he reminds me of it almost daily.  I still have a month to enjoy him being a 3-year old though, and so far 3 has been a great time for my little man.  I’ll just leave you with all his cute pictures and get to all the sentimental stuffs for him next month :)